WPL 2024: Smriti Mandhana Knock Came Out As X-Factor Against UP-Warriors
2 min read
Positives from the first half of WPL 2024 have been many. But Smriti Mandhana onside play has perhaps been the most calming to the eyes of everyone. It seemed almost unjust that a batter of her level hadn’t completely embraced the leg side for the longest portion of her career. In the current WPL season, the captain of the RCB seemed to have forgotten this reservation.
Although last week’s 195-run chase was not enough to overcome Mandhana’s opening fifty, on Monday she was the main attraction as RCB defeated UP Warriorz by a vital 28 runs in the middle of the league stage. one in which they place in the top three before the Delhi leg.
For her magnificent Captain's knock of 80(50), Smriti Mandhana receives the Player of the Match award 🏆
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 4, 2024
Scorecard 💻📱https://t.co/iplAqFh4Yz#TATAWPL | #UPWvRCB | @RCBTweets pic.twitter.com/h0pC80J02R
The refined southpaw had established the atmosphere. After winning their first two games of the season, RCB was susceptible, as Mandhana subsequently acknowledged. “To show the intent straightaway” was the plain message following the loss of the toss. Early in the powerplay, the left-hander made a few maximums by walking the talk. The second demonstrated how effortlessly she has defeated leg-side bowlers this season by lifting her front leg, bending her rear leg, and heaving it over wide long on.
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Mandhana has improved her batting by remaining deep in the crease against the spinners more frequently, in addition to her improved onside play. Her weak point has always been off-spinners, and Chamari Athapaththu nearly put her out of the game with a faster one. Mandhana so chose as her borders the area behind the square on either side of the field. She scooped Athapaththu over nice leg in the same over. She used the breadth that the left-arm spinner offered off Sophie Ecclestone to softly dab down third man.
Along with her improved onside play, Mandhana has become a better batsman by staying deep in the crease against the spinners more often. Off-spinners have always been her weak area, and Chamari Athapaththu almost eliminated her with a quicker one. Mandhana made this decision since it borders the field on all sides and the space beyond the square. In the same over, she scooped over the beautiful leg of Athapaththu. She dabbed down third man delicately, using the breadth that Sophie Ecclestone, the left-arm spinner, afforded her.
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Despite wickets falling at the other end, skipper Alyssa Healy held the fort for UPW, and even 199 seemed chaseable. Richa Ghosh flashed the bails in time to put RCB at the top of the points table, but Healy was undone by the ball going too far down her crease, unlike her colleague.
